PS4 video sharing needs fixing

One of the most distinctive features of the newest generation of gaming consoles is the ability to easily share gameplay footage on social media. I have to admit that while I initially thought that such a feature would be gimmicky and seldom used, I became a convert once I found myself in a Battlefield 4 server on my PS4 and a fighter jet kamikaze’d itself into my face – I couldn’t keep that moment to myself, now, could I?

Unfortunately, all is not well with the sharing function as of late, and we can certainly add this to the list of launch bugs on the PlayStation 4.

Initially, sharing worked as advertised for the most part – a press of the Share button on the DualShock 4 controller sent you to an app that could bring up the clip of the latest 15 minutes of gameplay, which you could share in its entirety or easily edit down to a particular moment beforehand. The only common gripe was specific to the aforementioned Battlefield 4, as clips were sharing without sound. Fortunately, on December 5th, DICE rolled out a patch which included: “Enabled audio in PS4 video captures.” Problem solved, right?

Well, that problem was solved, but another has apparently taken its place.

Lately, I’ve been noticing that when I hit the Share button, the footage I’m presented with is not from the previous 15 minutes of gameplay, but rather a 15-minute chunk of footage that actually had occurred a half-hour ago, or an hour ago, or sometimes even more.

A glance at some posts on the PlayStation.com support forum indicates that many others have been having this issue for longer than I have, and it apparently is not specific to Battlefield 4. Rather, it’s a system-wide issue that’s making the footage-sharing function all but useless at the moment for many PS4 owners.

Of all gripes to have with a launch of a brand new generation of consoles, this is a minimal one. However, once you’ve discovered how easy it is to share an incredible moment in a game with your friends and hardly miss a beat, it’s tough to go back.

Fortunately, while the bugs are ironed out, these footage-sharing features only look to improve as time goes on. The Xbox One currently has a leg up on the competition in this department, as footage captured on that console is uploaded to their SkyDrive and can be shared anywhere from there – whereas PS4 footage is relegated to sharing only on Facebook unless you’re broadcasting directly to Twitch.tv (which doesn’t archive yet – once you stop broadcasting, it’s gone). That said, Shuhei Yoshida — President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios — had been quoted a while back saying that a YouTube app on the PS4 would be available, just “not on Day 1.” Hope remains that when the YouTube app arrives, so will sharing footage directly to the popular video-sharing website – effectively answering the prayers of the vast majority of would-be footage-sharing addicts.

For now, many of us PS4 owners will have to stick to the old-fashioned practice of simply wishing someone else was there to see that awesome multi-kill.

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